Shock-absorber.



T. G. GUSHMAN.

SHOCK ABSORBER.

PPLIUATION HLBD AUG. s, 1910.

Patented June 27, 1911.

i so' onirica.

v THOMAS G. cUsHMAN, or 'sUNLAND, o luirii'omvIA.4

snooK-ABsonBnn.

Specification of Letters Patent. P

atenten June 27, 1911.

i Application ledAugust 8, 1910. Serial-No, 576,244.

To all 'whom 'it may-concern: Y

` Beit known'that I, THOMAS G. CosnMA'N, a citizen of the- United States, resldlng at Sunland, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and (useful Improvements` in Shock-Absorbers, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to a novel ,form of` shock absorber adapted to be applied more 1o or less directly to vehicleV spring The prime' object -of this invention is to provide a shock absorber which will actto resilient-ly limit the movement of vehicle springs, the `same time to the spring-` l cially wherethe lower half of a spring is not Vprovided with a radiusrod, that the lower spring portion center not j from the upper spring has a horizontal movement. Thishorizon` tal movement is caused by the horizontal resistance to road travel, and particularly caused bythe wheels meet-ing with some ob-v` struction which' causes them tobe momen-- tarily pressedrearwardly, vthus lower spring half rearwardly p quentlydeforming ythe spring.y A

My invention is designedto 'return the spring to a symmetrical formas well as to lcounteract excessive movements. Its action .in so doing will be better understood .from the following specication and accompanyingdrawings in wleic carrying the and conseproved shock absorber attached to a typical vehicle spring. Fig. 2 is an enlarged section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings 5 and 6 designate the upper and lower opposed portions 'of a full elliptic spring generally lused on vehicles and particularly on automobiles. It will,v be understood that I do not limit myself to the particular y form of s ring.. shown, some springs being made wlth only one of t-he portions, being semi-elliptic, and others being of various composite forms. In the case where only one portion of the sprin is used, :the part of the vehicle to which t e other portion of the spring would be attached is used for the attachment of my absorber. Thus, if t-he upper portion 5 is not used and lower portion 6- attached directly to the frame of the vehicle, the upper portions of my'absorber are also directly attached' to the vehicle instead of being -8 which `form a y bolts 9 to which linkslO such as ony automobiles, and act iat A prevent any distortion 'of It is Well knowny that, espe\ figuration shown. a

only moves to and y f4 portion center but .suiicient l Links l0 are pivoted to bolts 9 by means;

` the `links 'beingL made in the V or U configuration shown inV of' the links are Fiugre 1 is an elevation showing my im;VV

`greatlfy lessened, thus attached to portion'. 'y this connection it will befunden-L stood that .when I speak of opposedporf understood, but also those'portio'ns of the vehicle vframe which may be opposed to thesingle member of the semi-elliptlcspring or the like.

tions of'the spring, not only are spring" portions proper torbe Situated above 4and beneath portions "531 i and 6 are 4resilient straps 7 which Aextend outwardly from the center of the spring and are provided on their ends with 4ears or lugs Iplace of attachment for are pivoted. This is the only function of consequently not absolutely Anecessary that 'they `should be provided inthe exact condevice `which will Any ord support for bolts 9V atfor nearWthe ositions indicated and which will allow the` eaves of the 7spring portion to be free to straps 7; and itis,`

have a sliding motion over each other ,is l

of eyes l10n their ends,

Fig. 2. The inner ends situated asf shown in Fig.4 ll and-are connected together by'a loop or ring 12 which y.

maybe made integrally with the material ofv spring 13 as illustrated, or the 'rings `or,-V loops may vbe made separate from the spring, their function being to connect the lnner ends ofthe links together and `to af- .ford means for the connection of spring 13 to the points gf connection of the links.

Spring 13 is a tension spring, its ratio of resistance to distortion being made to Silit any particular situation. Links 10 may be stift', as shown, or may be flexible, as a chain or cable. The links and springs being arranged normally in the positions shown, it will .be seen that the vehicle spring may be compressed without .any resistance 'by springx 13, while an extension ofthe vehicle sprin will cause an extension of spring 13. Bost of t-he damage to springs is done on the upward movement of the vehicle frame-when the spring is extended. VIt will be seen that whenthevehicle springs are extended, lin-ks 10 are-brought more nearly into a straight line position and the extension of spring. 13 l for a given extension of the vehicle'spring is increasing the ,leverage o spring 13 over the force whichis 'ex`V tending the, vehicle spring..V This provides` l' that a gradually increasing force be applied to prevent the upward movement of the vehicle frame on the vehicle axle. This is as it should be, as it is desirable that the vehi le axle should move upwardly toward the 'vehicle frame without 4exerting a lar e amount of upward force on the frame, whi e objectionable` feature known as the bound to pull the whole arrangement back to, the

,normalA position shown'. Conversely, the

w Y spring 13 will also tend to prevent the main` spring from assuming an unsymmetrical position;y and in so` doing will revent spring breakage. A, large numberofp spring breakages on automobiles are due to distor- 1 tion of, the spring carried by horizontal and` particularl one Pratton shocks, My `device will minimize such occurrences. I am aware that springs and links have heretofore been in use for shock absorbers; in the vdevice -patented to y y l une 18, 1907, No. 857,256. But I do not claim broadly such featuresas are common to the Pratt device and my own, claiming -only the combination in my1 arrangement which renders my lconstruct-ion an equalizer as well as a shock absorber.

Having described my invention, I claim: 1.l yIn combination with a vehiclespring comprising opposed portions having relative movement, two pairs of links, the links of each pair'being pivotally connected to 'opposite portions of the opposed spring portions and on opposite sides of the spring portion centers from the'links of the other p air and at points approximately midway the spring portion centers and their ends, means. for

pivotally connecting the free ends of the links of each pair together, and a tension spring secured between the link end connections and normally holding the pairs of links extending inwardly toward each other and resistin their outward movement.

2l In com ination with a vehicle spring of the full elliptic class and composed of two opposing portionsfa strap, secured at its center to each oi. the spring portions at the center thereof, clips on the ends of the straps and loosely surrounding the spring portions` at points approximately midway` the spring portion centers and their ends, a link pivoted to each of the clipsand extending diagonally .inwardly toward the link attached to the opposite clip and toward the center of the spring, loose connections between the free ends of opposite links, and a tension spring attached to and extending between the connections. p V,

In witness that'I claim the foregoing I have-hereunto subscribed my name this first day of August 19,10.

y i T. G. lCUSHMAN. Witnesses:

, JAMES T. BARKELEW,

ELWooD H. BARKELEW.

Copies of this patent may be. obtained for ve cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patente! Washington, D. C. 

